Leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and seasoned politician Latif Khosa has expressed disapproval of the legislation proposed by the current administration to change the Election Act 2017 and has vowed that his party will not allow it to get through the National Assembly’s standing committee stage.
The Election Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024, introduced by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Bilal Azhar Kiyani, was forwarded to the appropriate House Committee by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq one day earlier. Khosa referred to this action as having “mal-intent.”
The goal of the proposed modification to Sections 66 and 104 of the Election Act is to make it illegal for anyone who ran as independent candidates in general elections to later amend their affidavit to indicate their party affiliation.It further states that political parties will not be eligible for the reserved seats if they do not provide the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) with a list of the reserved seats by the deadline.
Additionally, the amendment suggests that any candidate who fails to submit a declaration of affiliation with a political party before requesting the allotment of an election symbol will be considered an independent candidate. If a political party fails to submit its list for reserved seats within the previously mentioned prescribed time period, it shall not be eligible for the quota in the reserved seats at a later stage.
